Positive Uses Of Technology To Better A Sometimes Negative World

We’re constantly hit with negative things that take away from the quality of our lives. What happened to the good in us? Is it lost? I think we all have positive things in us & I think that technology makes it easier to get those things out. That's what this blog is about– using technology to accomplish positive things in our world. This blog is also about the positive things you’ve done, said, received, read and are grateful for. So take a moment & read about Very Positive Things!

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

As Thanksgiving approaches, it’s easy to get caught up in everything we have to get done. We race from store to store to make sure we have everything we need to entertain family and friends. We purchase tons of great food to make sure that we can have a fantastic meal. This is the holiday routine for a lot of us and a lot of us have a great deal to be thankful for. But…..have you ever stopped to think about the people who won’t have such a happy holiday?

Across the mighty United States and in many countries around the world, people will go to bed on Thanksgiving eve and wake up on Thanksgiving Day with nothing. No family to look forward to seeing, no food to eat and no hope for the future. I know, I know, I know. That’s not your fault. You didn’t put those people in that situation and you certainly don’t want to see people suffer. You know that you are a good person. So what can be done? It’s simple.

Use your heart and technology this holiday season to make a difference in someone’s life. How can you do that? I’m so glad you asked. There are a variety of ways to use technology to reach out to someone. Start with sick and shut in family members. Give them a call on your $200+ cell phone or, better yet, go to see a loved on you haven’t seen in a long time. Reach out to someone you don’t talk to regularly. Make the most of the Internet. Do a search on shelters and then find one to go to on Thanksgiving and help serve food to needy people. You can also find a shelter in your area via the Internet and donate money or food to them. Go to a senior citizen home with a few small gifts for a few hours on the holiday – blankets or something. Remember that those elderly people were once young. Old age is coming for every single one of us. Visit a hospital ward and take teddy bears to sick children or spend a few hours on Thanksgiving reading to them.

As you go through this season please think about the less fortunate. Sometimes, with all of our things to do, we forget about others and our moral responsibility to each other. This is just a friendly reminder to all of us. Try to make everyday you live a positive one not just for you, but also for those around you. You have no excuses. I’ve included a Google search box below so you don’t even have to leave the site or go to your toolbar to search for shelters in your area. Take a few moments and do something. :-)

Have you ever wondered what happens when the Internet meets fundraising for nonprofit organizations? Recently, I discovered the answer. It’s called FirstGiving.comFirst Giving is an organization that has made it their mission to make it possible for anyone, anywhere to raise money for US nonprofit organizations supporting causes they care about. First Giving runs a website that you can get to by clicking on their name anywhere in this article. They make fundraising so easy that you just can’t say that you don’t have time anymore. The process takes minutes to start and their system makes following through very easy.

To raise money for the nonprofit of your choice, you set up an online fundraising page using templates First Giving has already created for you. You add your information and details about the activity you are doing and the organization you are doing it for. Once you’ve set up your page on their site, links to the page, along with a personal message from you, are sent to your family and friends to ask for their support. Really simple isn’t it? You can decide to raise money in any way that is right for you. You can run, walk, shoot basketball hoops, grow your hair, or whatever you decide to do.

No more excuses! Now that you can raise money for the US nonprofit of your choice in such an easy way, you have no excuse not to do it. You can use their site to raise money individually and you can also set up a company wide effort to raise money. It’s your choice and it’s easy to do. I love when technology meets the desire to accomplish something positive. If you have a US nonprofit organization you would like to raise money for, visit FirstGiving.com and find out more about the online fundraising tools they have to offer. I'm not sure if or when FirstGiving will extend their efforts to support nonprofits around the world, however, you can contact FirstGiving directly to find out.

Don't have a fundraising idea, but still want to support a cause. That's fine too. FirstGiving allows you to donate money as well. You can visit the site and give money to the meaningful cause of your choice. Visit their site and let me know what you think. http://www.FirstGiving.com :-)

Monday, November 19, 2007

Here is something very positive that I wanted to share with you. The website DonorsChoose.org did something fantastic that raised over $420,000 for classroom projects that will benefit more than 75,000 students in low-income communities. They put on something they called the Blogger Challenge. Over 100 Bloggers participated in this challenge and raised this money during the month of October.

Just to give you a little information about this very positive organization, DonorsChoose.org is a non-profit website where teachers submit proposals for things they feel would benefit students in need. These students typically attend public schools that often lack the basic necessities for teachers. The site matches people who want to give with the proposals submitted. The students get the things they need and the donors get the opportunity to change the world in a positive way.

DonorsChoose.org is doing very positive work to make a difference in this world.

I'm going on a journey. Will you come with me? I'm going on a journey to find the best stories about the best people doing the most positive things. Why am I going on this journey? I'm going on this journey because I’m tired. I’m tired of wondering about all of the bad things that people do and say and why they do them. Although I know I can’t really escape it, I’ve made a conscious decision to try to expose myself to the most positive things I can. I’m creating a new website for it and this blog is going to document my journey.

What am I hoping to gain? Well, one of the things I want to do is meet people like you - positive people with positive things to say. An additional thing I'm going to gain is material for a website I'm starting about positive people, news and things. It's my hope, by the end of my journey, that I will be able to look back on this blog with the satisfaction you get when you know that you did something that made a huge difference in someones life. If you are going on this journey with me, let me know who you are. Post a comment, post a link, post an article or simply post a friendly hello. Think about the positive things you have to be thankful for and let’s have a great time. :-)